Vicky Peterwald: Target (27 page)

“And besides,” Vicky added, “I can’t start a rebellion when I don’t have a friend to my name, can I?”

Vicky let the silence become pregnant, then added, “I may be a Peterwald, but I’m not that crazy.”

The admiral mulled that over for a very long time.

“Okay, Your Grace, I do happen to have a gig that I’m willing to risk. Commander, you want to talk to our chief bosun’s mate and get checked out in it.”

“Yes, sir,” Gerrit said, coming to attention and saluting.

“With any luck, the two of you will splatter yourselves all over some bay down there and solve all my problems in one nice crash.”

“We’ll try not to do that, Admiral,” Vicky said. “Admiral Krätz used to say the same thing, but he always remembered how much paperwork he’d have to fill out and ended up wishing me luck.”

MIKE SHEPHERD
grew up Navy. It taught him early about change and the chain of command. He’s worked as a bartender and cabdriver, personnel advisor and labor negotiator. Since retiring from building databases about the endangered critters of the Pacific Northwest, he’s spent his time with some fun reading and writing.

Mike lives in Vancouver, Washington, with his wife, Ellen, and close to his daughter and grandchildren. He enjoys reading, writing, dreaming, watching grandchildren for story ideas, and upgrading his computer—all are never-ending. He’s hard at work on Kris Longknife’s next story,
Tenacious
;
Vicky Peterwald: Survivor
; and books that tell the earlier story of the Iteeche War.

You can learn more about Mike and all his books at his website mikeshepherd.org, e-mail him at [email protected], or follow Kris Longknife on Facebook.